The latest episode of Star Wars Resistance was released on Sunday!
“Rendezvous Point”, the eighth episode of the second and final season of the show, was a terrific chapter that was a significant step up from the last several weeks of what has been an overall slow start to season two. This episode, however, was fantastic.
Let’s dive in to our review.
SUMMARY:
The episode begins by thrusting us right into the midst of a battle between the Aces of the Colossus and the First Order. Things aren’t going well for the Aces, but they’re awaiting Captain Doza’s orders before retreating. Doza, meanwhile, is waiting for someone to arrive, but Yeager convinces him they can’t wait any longer or else the station will be destroyed. So they order the Aces back to the station and jump to hyperspace… just before an X-Wing arrives in the system.
The Resistance pilot and her droid put up a fight but are captured before they can jump to hyperspace. The droid plays dead while the pilot is taken away by Agent Tierny’s stormtroopers. Tam Ryvora thinks she looks familiar, however, and goes to talk to her in her holding cell. It is revealed that the Resistance pilot is Venisa Doza, the wife of Captain Immanuel Doza and the mother of Torra Doza. The episode reveals that Venisa fought for the Rebellion and thus goes way back with Yeager, and she is the one who convinced Immanuel to defect from the Empire. However, six years before the events of the show, when Leia Organa formed the Resistance, Venisa joined her while Immanuel wanted no part of another war. Once a year, they got to see each other on Torra’s birthday – which Kaz discovers is that day (thus the reason they were waiting for the pilot to arrive). Yeager knows about Venisa, but has kept it a secret just like he did with Kaz as well.
Venisa Doza goes right to work on Tam, attempting to get her to realize that she has made a mistake and that Yeager thinks of her as a daughter. Tam is clearly conflicted, and then Venisa’s droid, Torch, arrives and stuns Tam, freeing Venisa. She then takes Tam prisoner and leads her away, intending to bring her back to the Colossus where she belongs. Venisa and Torch fight their way to the hangar – including a close call escaping Rucklin – and manage to escape, but without Tam.
Back on the Colossus, Kaz – having learned that it’s Torra’s birthday – and the other Aces throw Torra a surprise birthday party. The episode ends with Captain Doza in his office watching the hologram of his conversation with Venisa six years ago, and Torra walks in and watches it with him. They miss Venisa and their family being together, but they know what she’s doing is important.
REVIEW:
This was a really, really good episode, and I wasn’t prepared for it to be this emotional! Resistance has managed to pull off some truly emotional episodes (“The Platform Classic” from season one was in this category too), and the way this episode ended was beautiful, touching, heartwarming, heartbreaking, etc. – all at once! Doza watching the holorecording, and then Torra coming to join him, as they longed for their family to be reunited but understood what Venisa was doing, really got me. I wasn’t quite ready for it!
And really, I think this episode featured so much of what makes this series thrive: it tells compelling and emotional stories about characters, while raising the stakes with the First Order involvement. When neither of those elements aren’t present, Resistance seems to struggle to find its footing, but when one of those elements are there – or both, like in this episode – the show can be something special.
But anyway, let’s talk about Venisa Doza, because she’s an awesome new character introduced. I think many of us assumed that Torra’s mom died sometime prior to the events of the series, but that’s obviously not the case: she instead is just off with the Resistance! And the writers of the show managed to come up with a completely understandable backstory. She fought for the Rebellion and met Immanuel Doza, a member of the Empire, and got him to defect. They married and had a daughter, and they lived together as a family until Leia Organa started the Resistance. Venisa wanted to join, but Immanuel didn’t want to get involved with another war. So Venisa left to do what she had to do, and Immanuel stayed behind – but what’s interesting is that both of them did so because they wanted a good future for Torra. Immanuel wanted to protect her, while Venisa wanted to make the galaxy a safe place for her. Neither of them were thinking about themselves, though they arrived at different conclusions. So now, it seems they only see each other once a year, on Torra’s birthday, and it’s the one time a year their family is complete.
I kinda thought that Venisa would meet up with the Colossus at the end of the episode, but that wasn’t the case. So I am really interested in seeing more of her. Now that Captain Doza has basically (though unofficially) joined the Resistance, I wonder if their family can be complete once more? I think there are so many storise that can be told further with Venisa – including her long history with Jarek Yeager, her family, her time with the Resistance (at one point we know she escaped from Terex!), etc.
Also, I wasn’t sure if Tam would end up with the Colossus at the end of the episode as well, but she did not. Venisa wanted to bring her back with her, but Tam didn’t want that. Actually, let me re-state that – Tam said she didn’t want that. This episode made it pretty obvious I thought that Tam knows she made a mistake in leaving, but she can’t admit it and won’t change it. She hasn’t forgiven Yeager or Kaz for what happened, but she hasn’t found anything better with the First Order. She is obviously conflicted, but she’s still with the First Order for the time being. I wonder what it will be that will finally make her realize that she wants to return home?
All in all, this is one of my favorite episodes of Resistance yet. It didn’t mess around and thrust us right into the action; the First Order was involved in a big way; there was an exciting escape sequence from a Star Destroyer that seemed to mix in elements of A New Hope, The Force Awakens, and more; there was a great new character introduced in Venisa Doza, as well as her droid, Torch; we saw more of Tam’s internal conflict; there was a touching moment between the Aces; and there was that emotional ending with the Dozas.
This is exactly what Resistance can be, and I really hope they can use this as a way to kinda find their footing moving forward this season.
My grade: 10/10
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